Voici un commentaire sur le match contre le Japon du Vancouver Sun.
Hier ist ein Kommentar zum Japan-Spiel vom Vancouver Sun.
Ecco un commento del Vancouver Sun sulla partita contro il Giappone.
Japan defeats Switzerland, but has help of suspect call
VANCOUVER – With Japan’s beautiful, flowing soccer, one-touch passing
and quick and constant movement, it probably takes a lot to diminish
one of their games.
Referee Lucila Venegas gave it a try.
On
what was shaping up to be a magical first night for the Women’s World
Cup in Vancouver, Venegas waved her black magic wand in the 28th minute
Monday and gave the Japanese a gift penalty they shouldn’t need, but one
that changed the tone (and score) of their 1-0 win against Switzerland.
Every
officiated sport has questionable calls. After all, this is the land of
hockey, which at the highest level is “managed.” But soccer is
different in that there are almost two playing fields — the ones inside
the 18-yard boxes and one between them — which creates a profound
disparity in consequences for good and bad calls alike. Penalty kicks
are like automatic goals.
For all their flair and forward drive,
Japan didn’t make it 1-0 Monday. Venegas did when the Mexican referee
whistled Swiss goalie Gaelle Thalmann for a follow-through collision
with Ando Kozue after a terrific save against the Japanese midfielder,
who was sent in alone on goal by Yuki Ogimi’s over-the-top ball.
Thalmann, eyes on the ball and bravely committed, could have avoided
contact with Kozue had Scotty beamed her aboard the USS Enterprise in
the split-second between the save and the collision.
She had every right to challenge for the ball and got a piece of it before crashing into Kozue.
Sadly,
the questionable penalty is already a theme in this World Cup, which
opened Saturday with Canada winning 1-0 on a contentious injury-time
call against China.
A couple of Canadian players described
Ukrainian referee Kateryn Monzul’s call as “brave.” That’s one letter
longer than the word China would have used, and had that call gone
against Canada, well, as a country we’d be reassessing our feelings over
Russian czar Vladimir Putin’s plans for Ukraine.
Venegas’ call
was only the fourth penalty Monday at BC Place Stadium, where the first
game of the first-round doubleheader saw Cameroon score three times from
the 12-yard dot in a 6-0 win against overmatched Ecuador.
Hungarian
referee Katalin Kulscar got most of the calls right, although the
phantom penalty in injury time with the score already 5-0 seemed to be
piling it on, especially since Kulscar earlier gave a straight red card
to Ecuadoran captain Ligia Moreira for clumsily clipping Cameroonian
Gaelle Enganamouit.
Like Japan, Enganamouit didn’t need any help.
The
last time I saw Cameroon play was the 1994 men’s World Cup, where a
weekend in Palo Alto allowed me to witness the final act of Roger Milla
and the finest Afro of Colombian Carlos Valderrama, who had better hair
than anyone I’ve yet seen in the women’s tournament. Or ever.
Enganamouit
was impressively coiffed, too, a floppy mop of blond topping her
powerful frame. No one noticed her hair once she started playing.
Enganamouit destroyed Ecuador with her speed and power and shoulders.
She clattered through three Ecuadoreans in the first eight minutes, then
followed her fouls with a hat trick of goals as Ecuador was
embarrassed. Watching Enganamouit and Gabriella Onguene and Genevieve
Ngo Mbeleck and Madeleine Ngono Mani skip around, past and through their
porous opponents, it was easy to feel sorry for Ecuador and anyone
broadcasting play-by-play.
The referee didn’t decide the game; Enganamouit and her long-ball teammates did.
It
was an impressive display from 53rd-ranked Cameroon, an unexpected
treat for the roughly 5,000 fans who took advantage of both halves of
their doubleheader ticket to show up on a sunny Monday afternoon to
watch two third-tier teams from countries most people here couldn’t pick
out on a map.
Japan-Switzerland was the main event. And unlike most main events, it was going to exceed expectations.
Sure,
the reigning-champion Japanese were as expected, full of pace and
passing and terrific individual skill. Like left back Rumi Utsugi
controlling the ball under pressure on her thigh and juggling it past
her opponent. And midfielder Aya Miyama using the outside of her boot at
full stride to curl a 40-yard pass into a thin crease between defenders
and four one-touch passes in traffic by four Japanese players that
would have made Barcelona envious.
But this game was about
Switzerland, too, counter-attacking aggressively and generally getting
the ball to star striker Ramona Bachmann, whose quick feet and
willingness to run at defenders had the Japanese in trouble several
times.
Given the confidence with which the Swiss played — and the
dominance with which they qualified, outscoring opponents 53-1 in 10
games — it’s hard to believe this is Switzerland’s first trip to the
Women’s World Cup.
They went head to head against one of the best
teams in the world and lost on a suspect penalty call from a referee who
hadn’t the sense to keep out of the way and just let a fabulous game
unfold.
It wasn’t the same after the penalty, which was booed by
many in the night crowd of 25,942. The timbre was lost. Up 1-0, Japan
played more conservatively. The Swiss did their best, but couldn’t
score, although Bachmann should have in stoppage time when she
side-footed over the bar from 15 yards after the ball fell to her feet
from a Japanese clearance. It’s like the soccer gods tried to even the
score. As if they knew.
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